The Day We Lived
by phantomloner
Summary: Two girls are mucking around with FFVIII action figures when, by some miracle, the dolls come alive! What will happen? Will Rinoa lose her head over this crisis? IS SQUALL A TYPICAL MALE WHO CARRIES CONDOMS IN HIS WALLET?? Read and find out and don't for
1. Playing

Disclaimer Crap:   
I don't own the FFVIII characters, though I wish I did, so please don't sue me or anything. This is written purely for entertainment. Anyway, read and enjoy... and be a good reader and R & R please!!   
  
"Ah ha! Squally!" cried Amber as she waved the action figure in Fiona's face.  
"Eek, scary. Gimme him. Let's see." Cassy took the doll from her friend and examined it closely. "Hmm, we need a Rinoa doll." She said.  
Amber's mind flashed a thought. "Oh yeah, I forgot, I bought a Rinoa doll before." She walked to her cupboard and rummaged around.   
"Ah ha! Here it is!" she cried, producing a Rinoa doll in her hand.   
"Cool." Said Cassy and took the Rinoa doll from Amber. Throwing the Rinoa onto the bed she took the Squall doll and began banging it on top of the Rinoa doll.  
"DIE RINOA!" cried Cassy. "DIE, DIE, DIE!!"  
Amber looked on, laughing her head off. "That's cooooool." She said, retarded. Amber went back to her cupboard and began taking out other Final Fantasy VIII dolls.   
"Whoa." Said Cassy, leaving the other two dolls on the bed. "You got a collection or something?"   
Amber shrugged. "I like them. I was going through a phase. Anyway," she said sitting on the bed and setting out the Quistis, Zell and Co. dolls.   
"Now… hmm, we're are going to be retarded." Replied Amber and took the Quistis doll and Seifer doll in her hand.   
"Yes, we are NOT retarded." Said Cassy, and did a stupid dance.  
"Good morning Seifer," Amber made Quistis say. "Have you been staying out of trouble today?"   
"Yes, yes. I have. The chicken wuss has been coming onto me lately." Amber made Seifer say.   
"AMBER!!" shrieked Cassy.   
"What?" Amber looked at Cassy innocently. "What do you mean 'coming onto you'?" asked Quistis.   
"I HAVE NOT!!!" Cassy made Zell cry. "Wanna make something of it!" Cassy positioned Zell's arms into battle stance and made it jump around.  
"Now, now!" Amber said in a deep voice, bringing the Cid doll into scene. "What's going on here?"   
Cassy had to giggle. "Oh nothing." She made Selphie say. "They're arguing again. It's very normal in a complicated relationship like theirs."   
"HEY!!" Amber made Zell cry.   
"It's okay Zell. Your secret's safe with us." Cassy made Irvine say.   
"Yes, it is." Amber made Squall say. Turning it around, she pretended to just notice Rinoa.   
"Oh dear Rinoa, what's happened?"   
Cassy picked up the Rinoa doll. "You beat me up!"   
"OH yeah, I forgot." Said Squall. Amber began to make Squall jump up and down on the Rinoa doll. "DIE RINOA! DIE!"   
Cassy couldn't help it. She burst out laughing.  
"This is so funny!" she cried. Amber grinned. She picked up the Squall doll and looked at it. Was it just her or did its eyes just blink?  
"Freaky, I think Squall just blinked." She said. Cassy looked at her curiously and took the doll from her.   
"EEK!" cried Cassy, dropping the doll. Before their eyes, the Squall doll began to glow and grow. It wasn't long before it grew to a life size and released its glow. Squall cleared his throat and looked around.   
"Ah, freaky." Said Amber. Cassy nodded in reply.  
"Who are you?" asked Squall, looking at them curiously.   
Cassy regained her confidence and said, "My name is… Cassy and this is…"  
"Amber." Amber supplied.   
"Okay, I'm -" Squall started to say.  
"We know who you are." Said Amber, without thinking.   
"You do? How?" He looked at them inquiringly.  
"We… uh…" began Cassy.  
"EEK!" shrieked Amber and pointed to the other dolls. Squall had a sudden glance before he ducked to the floor and the whole room filled with bright light. It wasn't long before all the FFVIII characters were all standing in Cassy's very cramped room and were making comments and observations.   
"SQUALL!!" cried Rinoa and ran toward him.  
"Typical." Said Amber, taking Cassy's hand and quickly made her way out of the room.   
"What the hell." Said Zell. "Where are we?"  
"That's what I was gonna ask." Said Selphie.   
"Okay, there's a door." Replied Quistis and pointed to the doorway. "We'll go that way." No one objected and they all went out.   
"Man, where the hell are we?" asked Seifer.  
"I have no idea." Said Cid.   
"There were some girls here before." Replied Squall. Everyone turned to him. "They said they're names were Amber and Cassy. They said they knew me."  
"I'm guessing they know the rest of us as well?" said Zell.   
Squall shrugged.   
"Great."   
Zell muttered. He looked down the hallway to see the two girls having a whispered conversation.  
Seifer was also looking their way, "hey, the tall one's not bad huh?" He snickered.  
Quistis looked at him and rolled her eyes, "Seifer."  
Cid chuckled.  
"Yeah and the other one's a bit of an alright, what's her name Squall?" Zell crossed his arms.  
Rinoa was standing with her arms wrapped around Squall's waist, Squall looked up from behind Rinoa's head. "Ummm, Amber."  
Selphie was wandering around the rooms; she entered the study room and looked out a window. "WHERE are we?"  
  
  
  
Okay, the two girls, Amber & Cassy, represent myself and my friend. We've been writing this story for a while now, but its one of our crazy humour ones... 


	2. Messing Around

Disclaimer: Okay, again... blah blah blah... i dont own ffviii and dont sue me... be a good reader and read and review...   
  
They all followed her inside and sat down on the floor "Ok folks, we're gonna have to work out where we are, how we got here, why we are here and how we get back" Squall looked around to see if they agreed. They nodded. Squall continued, "We'll ask the girls to come in after we've had our meeting."  
"What if they're enemies?" Rinoa asked.  
"Unlikely." Cid said, "they look to be about 15 and they're unarmed, they're probably as confused as we are."  
Rinoa looked satisfied with the reply.  
"But," Squall said, "They seem to know who we are."  
A doubtful expression clouded Quistis's face. "Maybe we've been sent to the future. Or even the past."  
Seifer looked around at the surrounding; on the wall there was a picture of Sydney Harbour Bridge. "Maybe we're in a different dimension."  
"Yeah." Irvine said, "We've gone to the future before, so Seifer's idea isn't that farfetched."  
Seifer gave him and inquiring look, Irvine just shrugged.  
"So how do we get back?" Rinoa asked.  
"The girls obviously have something to do with it." Cid said, gesturing with his hands to some voices from behind the door.  
"Squall," Zell said, kicking him with his foot, "You go and tell 'em to come in here."  
Squall frowned and placed his head in his hand, after a moment's thinking, he got up. "Okay."  
  
"What. The. Hell." Cassy paced around her parent's room.  
Amber sat down crossed legged on the carpet. "This is all very strange."  
"Hell yeah. What do we do?"  
Amber stood up, "Well they gonna need some decent clothes."  
"Clothes? How could you think about that in a time like this!" Cassy looked mildly horrified, "We gotta get em back to Balamb or whatever, and this is way too weird."  
"Chill, why send em back for? Not that we know how. We'll just make the most of this opportunity yeah?"  
Cassy looked thoughtful, "Yeah I guess. Seifer's pretty hot."  
Amber smiled, "Zell's pretty hot."  
The girl's looked at each other and grinned, "Squall's pretty hot!!"  
  
"Pretty hot. What?" Squall approached the door and poised a hand to knock. The door swung open suddenly and the two girls came streaming out.  
"Hi Squall." Cassy said sweetly. She looked behind him. "Ah, I see you guys have made yourselves quite at home."  
Squall said nothing.  
"Anyways, we're gonna get changed, you people just chill we'll be there in a sec." Amber smiled at him and walked off into Cassy's room. The door slammed shut. Squall blinked. He walked back to the others. He walked in the room and everyone looked up expectantly at him.  
"Well?" Zell enquired.  
"We're supposed to chill and they'll be with us in a sec." Squall explained.  
"Right."  
  
There was a mountain of clothes quickly forming on the floor.  
"Where is it!" Cassy shrieked.  
"Cassy, calm down, I'm dressed already."  
Cassy turned around and looked her friend up and down. Amber looked really nice dressed in simple black jeans that flared, and a baby blue halter neck top. "Cool."  
Amber shrugged and plopped herself on Cassy's bed. She rummaged through her bag and found the silver eye shadow she was looking for.  
"Ah here it is!" Cassy exclaimed, she pulled out a pair of white jeans and a red singlet top.  
She quickly pulled her clothes on. She checked herself out in the mirror. Her white jeans started at her hips and finished as bellbottoms. She fingered her silver necklace that could be seem peeking through in the circle that was at the top of the shirt. Cassy turned around to see the backside of her. Amber groaned in the background, "get over yourself."  
Cassy chose to ignore that and went back to her reflection, the two straps were criss-crossed.  
She stepped away finally happy.  
"Where's that eye make up? I left it somewhere on the table." Cassy asked, pointing to her table.  
Amber looked up and threw Cassy the eyeliner and eye shadow she requested. Cassy quickly did her eyes and turned back to Amber. Amber smiled and got up; she led Cassy out of the room. They walked the two metres to the room where their FFVIII quests were waiting. Amber opened the door and the girls stepped inside.   



	3. We Gots Some Explaining To Do

Seifer looked up as the door opened. Two girls stood in the doorway, giving the FFVIII group a cute questioning look. WHOA! Seifer thought as his hormones went into overdrive. That girl in the red looks HOT! He gave Cassy a flirtatious smile. Cassy tilted her head and looked at him. She smiled back. Hmm, this is gonna be good she thought to herself.   
"You must be Amber and Cassy." Spoke up Cid, standing up.   
"Eek." Amber hissed in Cassy's ear. "Why the hell did he have to come to life?" Cassy shrugged and turned back to the group.  
"Yeah." She answered Cid. "I'm Cassy," she said pointing to herself. "And -"   
"I'm Amber." interrupted Amber. She looked over the room and watched as Squall stood up. Before he was able to speak, Zell cut in.   
"Question:" he began. "Where are we?"  
"You," said Cassy. "Are in MY house, which is located in Ashfield, which is found in NSW, which is-"   
"I think they get the point, Cassy." Said Amber.   
"How do you know us?" asked Squall. Amber looked at him. He is soooo hot she thought to herself. Sooooo hot…   
"Umm… we…" Cassy trailed off. She looked to Amber.   
"Can't answer that right now." Supplied Amber.   
Squall looked at her. "Why not?" he asked.  
"We just can't." repeated Amber. "Is that not a good a reason?"   
Squall started to say something but decided against it.   
"Okay, so you know us." He said instead. "But -"  
Cid started speaking. "Do you girls have anything to do with us being here?"   
Amber groaned silently. Why is he here? she thought. Cassy was thinking the same thing. IT was obvious that they didn't want the old headmaster there with them. Before Cid could say another word, he was glowing and shrinking. It was unbelievable. Before Cassy and Amber's eyes, the Cid was shrinking. IT wasn't long before he was a typical FFVIII doll again. Cassy took this chance and quickly leapt over to where Cid was sitting and grabbed the doll. As she turned around, she fell on top of Seifer who caught her.   
"Oh, um… sorry." Said Cassy, giving him a cute smile.   
"Anytime." Replied Seifer, smiling back at her. Cassy cleared her throat, got up and quickly brushed herself off. She walked hastily to her room and threw the Cid doll into the back of her closet. Amber was left there for a few seconds to scam a guy from the group. Her mind worked quickly. Let's see, Squall, Zell, Seifer and Irvine she thought. Well, definitely not Irvine, and I know Fi's got her eyes on Seifer… She looked around. Squally!! she thought. Damn Rinoa. I'm sick of Zell too She couldn't believe it. There was no potential guy at all.   
"Where'd she go?" asked Seifer.   
"Yeah." Piped Irvine. Squall was also thinking the same thing, though he was with Rinoa. Amber could see that they had not noticed that their headmaster had left them. It was as if Cid was completely wiped from their memories. Which is a very good thing Amber thought.   
"I'm back!" announced Cassy as she entered the room.   
"Come sit here babe." Said Seifer, opening his arms as invitation. Cassy carefully stepped over the group and plopped herself in Seifer's lap as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Amber shrugged and sat beside Squall.   
"Okay." said Cassy. "Now that Cid is gone -"  
"Who?" interrupted Rinoa. "Cid? Never heard of him."   
"I have a very vague thought. Cid…" Selphie racked her brains. "Cid… Sydney?"   
"AH ha! Great idea, Selphie." Said Amber. "We'll take the train to the city and chill."   
"Chill?" echoed Squall. He shrugged. "Whatever."   
Rinoa didn't look happy. "But how the hell did we get here in the first place? Shoudn't we find that out first?"   
Selphie stuck her tongue out at her. "Party pooper." She said.   
"Who cares, anyway?" said Quistis. "Least I'm free from teaching irritating junior classmen. You do NOT know how annoying they are."   
"So when do we go?" asked Zell. "Are there any hot dogs there?"   
Amber laughed. "The streets are flooded with hotdog stalls, Zell. And the best part is that they don't run out as often as you would like to think."   
"GREAT!!" cried Zell. "What are we waiting for then? Let's go." He got up and made his way to the door, but Rinoa grabbed his leg as he walked by.   
"'ey, let go!" said Zell, trying to shake her off.  
"Zell, you've gone spastic." She said sternly. "Stay and we'll work this out first."   
"Rinoa," started Cassy. "Why are you so desperate to find out how you got here?"   
"For your information, Cassy." Said Rinoa. "I would like to know so that we can find a way to get back."   
"They won't miss us." Said Irvine. "We're just 'there' half the time anyway."   
Rinoa didn't look convinced. "You don't agree with them do you, Squall?" she looked at him, expecting him to side with her.   
Squall shrugged. "I didn't want to be commander and this is practically the only chance I have to get away from the frickin duty." He looked toward Cassy and Amber. "Where's the nearest train station?" he asked.  
"That's the spirit, Squall!" cried Irvine. He grabbed Selphie's hand and pulled her up. "Come on. Let's go." He led Selphie out the door and Amber heard her shout "WOOHOO!!" Amber shook her head smiling. She turned back to the group.   
"How many of you guys are loaded?" she asked. Seifer looked at her in mild shock.   
"Loaded? What, you mean sex-wise?" he said. Cassy nearly fell out of his lap.   
"Bad Seifer." she scolded. "She didn't mean in that sense." Seifer shrugged, smirking.   
"Well?" pressed Amber. "Empty your pockets."  
The group began to empty their pockets. Out of Seifer's pockets, there were a few strange forms of notes, a wallet and some stuff. From Zell's there were also those same notes, a chain, a condom and some unidentified objects. Squall's pockets didn't carry much, except a few notes and some silver stuff. Quistis had a few pens and tissues and also those same notes.   
"A CONDOM?!" shrieked Rinoa, taking a condom packet out of Squall's pocket. Amber smirked. "Proves the fact that he's typical guy." She said. Rinoa did NOT look happy at all. Squall couldn't help smiling a little.   
"Squall, how could you?" asked Rinoa. She was obviously peeved.   
"I didn't do anything." He responded.   
"Bad, BAD, Squall." Said Cassy. She turned toward the various piles and picked up a few of the strange notes. On them read a number and the word 'GIL'.   
"FFVIII money!" she cried. Amber grabbed some of the notes and examined them. The group looked at the two girls as though they'd gone mad.   
"Haven't you seen anything like it?" asked Quistis, confused.   
"Oh, umm…" Amber struggled to find words to explain. She leaned toward Cassy and whispered, "You reckon we ought to tell 'em?"   
"Tell them what? That they're descendants of the Barbie doll?" Cassy whispered back.   
"Nooo. That they're in another dimension and that this dimension uses different money."   
"Ohhh." Cassy understood. "I guess, but where they hell are we gonna get Aussie money to support them all?"   
"Umm…" Amber was lost. She turned back to the group.   
"Me and Cassy have to… go that way." She grabbed Cassy's arm and led her out.   
"We'll be right back!" Cassy called.   
"What are they like?" said Squall.   
"Very hot." Said Zell and Seifer in unison.   
Rinoa rolled her eyes.   
Zell rolled his eyes back at Rinoa and did an imitation of her, "I'm Rinoa, I'm gonna go nag Squall now" Then he added in a high pitched voice,   
"Squallll, Squallll, does this make my boobs look bigger?"  
Rinoa looked insulted, "Zell!" She punched him on the arm. "How could you say that?"  
Zell looked down apologetically. "Yeah sorry Rinoa, I really am. I mean, what boobs?"  
Seifer snickered. "Didn't think I would ever say this but, 'Onya Zell!"  
Rinoa stood up fuming, her hands on her hips. "Squall!" she looked at him with puppy eyes for support.  
Squall looked up, he stared at everyone, "Guys, I really don't think you should be making crude comments like that to my girlfriend." He paused and studied Rinoa's smug expression, he then murmured quietly. "Even if she does have small tits."  
Zell cracked up laughing and punched the ground with his fists. "More like grapes."  
Seifer snickered, "Grape seeds." He looked over to see Quistis's reaction.   
She was too busy going through some books to have heard.  
Rinoa eyeballed the three guys, "Okay, who said what and when. Something was obviously said?"  
All at once they all started whistling and looked around the room innocently.  
"Hey!" Zell perked up suddenly, "Where did our Selphie and Irvine go?"  
"Yes," Squall said, standing and punching the air with his arm, "I'll help you look for them."  
"Okay" Seifer added, also getting up onto his feet. "The more the merrier."  
In a quick moment the door was shut and Quistis and Rinoa were left alone in the room.  



	4. Let's Go Shopping!!

"Dah." Cassy said, pacing around her room once more. "Well my parents won't be back for another two weeks min. And your parents wont mind if you stayed over like every weekday and went home for the weekend, right?"  
Amber tapped her chin in thought, "I dunno, I doubt they'll let me stay over for two weeks solid."  
Cassy sighed and scrunched up her eyes. "What'll we do then?"  
Amber shrugged, "Hey you reckon that if we concentrated hard enough, we could turn our parents into members of the plastic people too?"  
Cassy laughed, "No idea. But anyways, we'll focus on the matter at hand here."  
Amber nodded.  
"We need cash, and a lot of it."  
Amber sighed, "We could always steal credit cards."  
Cassy's eyes brightened, "Yeah. Yeah!" she looked excited and headed to the door of her room.  
"Wait!" Amber cried. "We're not going to steal credit cards!"  
Cassy paused, "Ok fine."  
Now Amber started pacing Cassy's room. "How about we wish alive, like, some fake money. You know?"  
Cassy gave her a weird look. "Yeah, sure. Because there's plenty of counterfeited money lying around in MY house and all."  
Amber was getting impatient, "No, I meant, fake money, as in monopoly money."   
Cassy's eyes grew big with understanding, "OH I get it now! Cool, alright I know I've got it somewhere here."  
Cassy started to rummage around in her closest, the result a large torn and tattered rectangular shaped cardboard box taped around with sticky tape, otherwise known as the board game, Monopoly.  
The two girls opened the box up and gathered all the colourful bits of   
'money'. They stood around the pile and held hands.  
"Ok now Gurlfren'." Cassy started. "We picture lots n lotsa dough."  
"Please" Amber said, "Money, just money."  
Amber squeezed her eyes shut and pictured a white room filled with $100 green notes. They were everywhere, littering the floor, stuck on the walls and ceiling and sloshed around in great mountains. In the middle of it all, Nicholas Tse lounging around on a plush sofa holding out handfuls of cash to her. Cassy squeezed her eyes shut and pictured a hot blond man in a white shirt and black pants. He was waving to her goodbye. He turned around and Cassy noticed a bulge in his back pocket. She greedily ran towards it and pulled out a big black wallet from the pocket. She opened it up and $100 dollar notes squished in together greeted her eyes. The girls sighed contentedly and opened their eyes, they smiled. The smell of notes wafted to their noses. Amber looked at Cassy and Cassy looked at Amber. Amber and Cassy looked at the enormous pile of $5, $10, $20, $50, $100 and $200 at their feet.  
Cassy let out a sound of delirious joy. Amber just stared, eyes shining.  
"Oh my god." The two girls said simultaneously. "Oh my god." They repeated.  
Amber knelt slowly to the ground, her hands gently scooping up wads of notes. Cassy reached down and grabbed four one hundred dollar bills.  
"I've never held this much money in my life, and called it mine!"  
"Ours." Amber reprimanded.  
Cassy shot a look at Amber, then shrugged. "And our FF-buddies, too."  
Amber nodded, getting up, some notes clutched in her hand. She rummaged through Cassy's drawers, looking for some wallets and purses.  
"Squall's actually pretty rich, I think." Cassy said, shoving the notes in her hand into her pocket. "Y'know, his SeeD salary."  
Amber agreed, "I guess, but then that probably isn't really even that much by their standards." She showed Cassy her findings, two black purses, a pink Hello Kitty purse and a Rusty red velcro wallet.  
Cassy grinned, she eyed Amber, "Let's go shopping!"  
  
"Okay. This Sydney place isn't really that other dimension-ish." Observed Selphie as she looked around Cassy's street.  
Irvine kicked at a stone lying in the middle of the road. "Yeah, well, it's like an alternate universe type thing."  
The sounds of three male guys approaching made Irvine and Selphie look up. The three were carrying on like old buddies, laughing and slapping eachother on the back.  
Seifer snickered loudly, "What an ass on that girl, too."  
Squall laughed, "So that's why you were always in the library, Zell."  
Zell blushed, "Hold on! N-No!" He stammered.  
Seifer and Squall laughed again, they came to a halt in front of Irvine and Selphie. Irvine looked at Selphie, his facial expression read 'what-the-hell?'  
Selphie shruged, "Um, guys." She looked at Squall, Seifer and Zell meaningfully. "I know we're not in our own world or anything, but do you really have to act so un-characteristically?"  
The three young men looked at eachother. Seifer twisted his lips into a smirk and leaned to the side on his gunblade.  
Zell shoved his two thumbs into his side pockets and started to whistle. Squall stood around looking deep in thought, a frown fixed to his forehead. They heard a laugh, Quistis was coming out of Cassy's house door and heading towards them. Rinoa right behind her. "You guys never do change, do you?"  
Quistis opened up the cream coloured gate and stepped out, leaving it opened for Rinoa. Quistis stood next to Selphie, whispering in her ear about Zell and Seifer's behaviours.  
Rinoa looked around suspiciously, "Everyone seems to be whispering about something that no one is letting me in on."  
Zell, Squall and Seifer cracked up laughing. Even though Irvine didn't know what was going on, he grinned broadly anyway.  
Rinoa looked as if she was steaming from the ears. "Stop it!"  
This only resulted in more laughter from her comrades.  
Rinoa glared at them. She hissed, "you better not be planning to kill me, since I'm a soceress and all."  
Squall stopped laughing and his expression grew soft. He walked over to   
Rinoa and gathered her in his arms. "Baby," He started, "We would never even think of that. We're just mucking is what we're doing, I would never let any harm come to you."  
Rinoa looked pleased and kissed Squall on the cheek. "Good."  
"Speaking of powers." Quistis started.  
"Yeah." Zell continued, "Do we still have our magick?"  
Seifer flexed his hands, "Tornado." He whispered.  
A sudden gust of wind blew in from nowhere but everywhere at once, leaves and sticks caught in the drift. It gathered the group and swung them around and around high in the air. When the wind subsided, it dumped the group with a thud on the ground. There were collective moans from everyone but ofcourse, from Seifer. He stood there trying to take the smug expression threatening to explode across his face, but it came through and he looked more like Seifer than ever.  
Zell got up, cursing. "why you little!" He balled up his fist and murmered quickly. "Firaga."  
A large ball of flame, red and yellow searing heat trendils swallowed Seifer up and engulfed him in their feiry grasp. When the spell faded away Seifer emerged smiling, "Ele-Def" He replied to Zell's goggled eyed stare. This got Zell even more mad, he prepared to cast another spell.  
"Guys!" Cassy shrieked, running out to them. "No no and NO!"  
The FF8 people exhanged confused glances.  
"What Cassy was trying to say what that No Spells or Weapons or Any Abnormal Behavious WHATSOEVER." Amber said, closing the gate behind her.  
"What." Rinoa said, "You guys don't do spells, GFs, draws, limit breaks or whatever?"  
Amber and Cassy shrugged and shook their heads. "Not even physical attacls."   
Added Amber.  
The group looked positively horrified.  
"By the Hyne." Quistis said, "Then what can you do?"  
"Shop?" Amber answered.  
Irvine groaned, "you can't even do this?" Irvine waved his arms around,   
"Thunder."  
A small lighting storm brewed around a small tree.  
"Not even." Chirped Cassy.  
Again looks of horror and disbelief.  
"Oh calm down folks." Amber said, taking Cassy's hand and leading the way out of the street. "We're going to the city now, to get you people   
aqquainted with fair old Sydney, and." She added, "to get you guys some   
streetworthy clothes."  
"What's wrong with what we're wearing?" Selphie asked indigantly.  
"Nothing." Cassy said, as they were walking, "But the mardi gra isn't until   
next year."  
"Mardi gra?" Irvine repeated.  
"Yeah." Amber said, "It's where gay and lesbian people parade around in their homosexuality on an allocated night on Oxford street, in the city."  
"Ohhh..." Selphie said, "But what is homosexuality?"  
"It's when two guys..." Cassy started  
"Get jiggy." Amber finished for her.  
"What! What!" Zell said, with an edge of panic in his voice, "We need to get some new clothes NOW!"  
"Yeah, well, that's why we're heading towards parra road." Cassy explained,   
"We're gonna catch a bus and go to the city."  
"Why don't you guys have names for your cities?" Rinoa asked, they carefully crossed a street together. "Like Deling City and stuff."  
They stopped at a traffic light. "Well it's basically Sydney city, but since we live in Sydney, and there's only one city here, we call it the 'CT'."   
Amber pressed the round silver button and the little man flashed green. They crossed again.  
"So what is Syndey?" Zell asked.  
"Well.." Cassy explained, ignoring the sounds of traffic blaring in her ear.   
"Sydney is what we call a city, in fact it's the capital city of New South Wales."  
Squall tried to look intellectual. "I see."  
Seifer smirked, "What are we having a geography lesson?"  
Amber glared at him, "We're only trying to help you understand."  
There was a long line of cars and traffic lights right ahead of them.  
"And that's parramatta road." Cassy explain, "It's a highway. When we get to the city, the same street is then called George Street."  
Rinoa looked dumbfounded, "why is everything so weird?"  
"Nah it's not."  
"Different." Quistis said.  
Rinoa rolled her eyes.  
"That's the second time today." Seifer said. "The wind changes and you'll get stuck like that."  
Cassy laughed, Seifer gave her a pleased look.  
The crossed to the other side and waited for a bus to come. Soon enough a 461 bus came into view. Cassy stood at the edge of the curb and stuck a hand out. The bus slid to a stop and the doors swung open. Amber led the group of people to the back of the bus as Cassy paid. The passengers sent stares in their direction.  
"Um, two children to townhall. And um, eight adults." Cassy said, holding out a $20 note.  
The busdriver eyed Cassy, "Return or single?"  
"Single."  
When Cassy's change was given, she hurried back to the others, tripping once. She plopped down next to Amber on a two-seater. Squall, Rinoa, Selphie, Irvine, Quistis and Zell were seated at the very back. Seifer sat alone in the two-seater across the aisle from Cassy and Amber.  
"Hey." Whispered Amber softly, "I hope they aren't recognised by some FF-fanatic!"  
Cassy lowered her voice too, "Reckon. What would we say?"  
Amber shrugged.  
After hushed conversations, 20mins later they approached large buildings and skyscrapers. There were people on the sidewalks bustling around busily, there were smartly dressed buisness people and casually dressed teenagers. The FF people stared out of the window. The woman in front of Amber whispered to the man next to her, "Strange bunch they are, one would think they've never seen the city before!"  
Seifer had heard, "Oi, woman." He sneered, "isn't it a little rude to talk about people like that?"  
The woman looked insulted and stuttered, "Well, goodness gracious me."  
But before a conflict could start Amber and Cassy whisked them all out of the bus and onto the streets. The group stood at a side entrance of the QVB sticking out like a sore thumb.  
"Eek." Amber said. "We gotta split up."  
Cassy agreed. "Ok, we meet back here in about an hour and a half"  
"That would be," Irvine said, looking up at the giant clock on the townhall, it struck 12 and the bells sounded. "1:30"  
Cassy nodded, "anyways, Seifer, Irvine and...Quistis." She pointed to them and they stood by her, "you guys wanna come with me?"  
Seifer smiled, "Ofcourse."  
Irvine and Quistis shrugged indifferently.  
Amber sighed quietly, she clenched her teeth and sent Cassy a look, she nodded her head gesturing to Selphie.  
Cassy stifled a giggle. "Anyways, we're off."  
Amber looked around at the group ensembled before her. Squall, Rinoa, Zell and Selphie. She nodded her head to the entrance, she could see Cassy walk with Seifer in front, with Irvine and Quistis following them.  
"Zell." Amber said, walking towards him.  
"Yes mam." Zell saluted with a grin on his voice.  
"Uhh, what did I say about abnormal?" Amber asked nervously, glancing at the people around her.  
"Oh." Zell said, "We salute all the time in Garden, back in our worl- I mean hometown." He then started to explain, "Garden is a military school founded by Cid and Edea Kramer. Garden teaches students to become SeeDs. SeeDs are-"  
"Elite mercenaries dispatched around the world hired out to clients, blah, blah, blah." Amber finished.  
The group started walking, "Uhh." Squall said un-easily, "HOW do you know all this?"  
Amber shrugged, she was walking with Squall and Rinoa, Zell and Selphie were behind them. "I told you, Cassy and I will explain later."  
Amber and Co were on the level 'The Grand Walk'. "We'll go downstairs." She said quickly.  
They turned right at the entrance and went down some winding stairs, soon they were at the level where the train station was. Amber led the way and they walked around browsing. They passed a shop, 'Lisa Ho'. Selphie screamed when she saw a yellow mini stressed modeled by a manniquin in the window display.  
Amber rolled her eyes, groan she thought.  



	5. Ta-da! How do I Look?

"This is soooo cute!" cried Selphie, running into the store. The sales assistant caught on her enthusiasm and went over to her.   
"This dress is on sale." She said. "30% off, and its returnable if you don't like it."   
"Well, then I'm definitely buying it." said Selphie.   
Eek, Amber to the rescue thought Amber and quickly went over to the sales assistant, who was starting to take the dress off the rack.   
"Excuse me. My friend wasn't serious about buying this dress…" she said.   
"But I was -" Selphie started to say before Amber covered her mouth with her hand.  
"Umm, we have to go now." Said Amber, nodding thanks to the assistant and leading Selphie out to the waiting group.   
"Er, what was that about?" asked Zell.   
"She went hyper." Replied Amber. "Now, I want you to act normal."   
"What is classified as normal here?" asked Squall.   
"Just act normal." Said Amber. "You'll figure it out."   
"Why are we even doing here?" asked Rinoa.   
"Because, you don't look normal." Snapped Amber.   
"Did you see that dress? It was GORGEOUS!" cried Selphie.  
"Yes, yes." Said Amber, reassuringly. "I'm sure your beloved Irvine will buy it for you."   
Selphie looked at her strangely. "How do you know about Irvine and me?"   
Amber shook her head. "We didn't come here to talk about how you came to be here."   
"Yeah," nodded Zell. "We came here to find clothes. I, for one, don't wanna look like a member of the Gradi Mars."   
"Mardi Gras." Amber corrected him, shrugging. "Fine, we'll go to General Pants Co." She began to lead the group through the QVB.   
"Cool." Responded Zell as they walked. His face took on a confused look. "Uh, what's that?"   
"Men's store." Replied Squall as they came to a stop in front of a funky store.   
"And women's." Replied Rinoa.   
"Okay, you," said Amber, pointing to Rinoa and Selphie. "Sit here and wait, while I take these dudes to get some proper clothing."   
"What do you call proper?" asked Squall.   
"Cargos and funky tops. Come on." She took the hand of Squall and Zell and began to lead them into the store.   
  
"Okay, where to first?" asked Seifer as put his arm around Cassy's shoulders.   
"This is a very big building." Said Quistis looking around as they walked.  
"You haven't seen the half of it," replied Cassy. "Hmm, where to go…" She said thoughtfully.   
"Oh yeah, we'll check out Jag. They always have cool clothes there."   
"Lead the way, ma'am." Said Irvine. Cassy shot him a look and shrugged. Seifer, on the other hand, glared at him.  
"What? I didn't do anything." Said Irvine, looking innocent.   
"Stop it, Irvine." Scolded Quistis as they walked. They soon came to a stop in front of a classy store.   
"Hmm, who wants to go first?" asked Cassy.   
"I will, babe." Said Seifer. Cassy smiled.   
"Cool, come on then." She took his hand and guided him into the store.   
"Okay, what's your style?" Cassy asked him as they wandered in between the racks of clothes.   
"Black." He replied, simply, with an amusing smile on his face.   
Cassy looked thoughtful. "Okay, hmm…" She went around the store and began picking up black clothes. Seifer followed her; inquisitive with what she was doing.   
"Okay," said Cassy, finally stopping and dumping a heap of clothes into Seifer's arms. "Change rooms are that way. Put the shirt on first, then the jeans, the coat and…" she reached over to a stand and pick up a pair of sunglasses. "These." She finished. "Go," she pushed him toward the change rooms and into an empty stall.   
"Don't take long." Cassy said to him, with a twinkle in her eye.   
Seifer watched as she closed the door and turned. Slowly, he began to change. His mind was filled with thoughts as he changed. She's very dominating he thought as he pulled the shirt over his head. That's gonna work well   
  
His taking a while thought Cassy. Wonder what his doing in there She laughed silently as her mind was filled with funky thoughts. At last the door opened and Seifer stepped out. Cassy felt she was barely there when Seifer spoke.   
"Well?" he asked.   
Cassy looked him up and down. "Hot." She said simply.   
Seifer smiled. "So, I'm guessing we're buying these?"   
Cassy nodded. "Yes, definitely."   
"Cool." Seifer smiled at her and turned back into the change room. It wasn't long before they were at the counter and paying for their newly bought products.   
"That'll be $247.85, please." Said the girl behind the counter.   
Cassy dug into her bag for the right amount of money. The girl raised her eyebrows as Cassy produced three crisp green notes from her bag and handed it to her. Cassy saw the surprised expression on her face and asked nervously, "Is there something wrong?"   
"No, no." said the girl quickly, as she fumbled with the register for the correct change. She quickly handed Cassy the money and said, "Thank you. Have a nice day."   
"Have a nice day?" repeated Seifer as they walked out of the store.   
"It's an expression." Replied Cassy she met with the others.   
"About time." Said Irvine, standing up. "What'd you guys get up to?" He had a mischievous smile on his face.   
"You can think what you want, Irvine." Scolded Cassy.   
"Very well then, ma'am." Said Irvine as they walked down through the building.   
"Okay, Quistis. I'm taking you next." Said Cassy.   
"Huh? What? Ohhh…" said Quistis, finally registering what she was saying. "We're attracting major attention, you realize?" she said, indicating the people who turned to look at them.  
"Probably because of the fact that I'm so good looking." Responded Irvine, who tipped his hat at the various girls nearby.  
"Good looking, my ass." Smirked Seifer, slinging his new jacket over his shoulder.   
"What about you?" challenged Irvine.   
"Quit it, guys." Said Quistis.   
"Yay, Quisty." Said Cassy, clapping. Quistis smiled at her.   
"Okay, come on Quistis. I'll fix you up." Said Cassy, taking her hand and leading her into the shop that they had stopped in front of.   
"You guys sit and wait." She called behind her shoulder. "And tried not to kill each other."   
Cassy dragged Quistis in between the various clothes rack and picked up a few white items of clothing.   
"Hmm, what do you think of this?" asked Cassy, holding up a white vinyl leather jacket that tied around the waist.   
Quistis nodded in approval. "I like it." she said.   
"Cool, then you'll like these too." Said Cassy, producing a white-flared pants and a soft pink stringy halter.   
"Uh, I don't know about the top." Said Quistis, nervously.   
"Don't worry," assured Cassy, pushing her toward the change rooms.  
"Change in there, and don't take long. We still have yukky Irvine to do." Called Cassy through the door.  
Quistis smiled. "Okay…" she replied.   
  
"What are you doing in there?" called Amber through the change room.   
"Ow! I'm fine." Said Selphie quickly as there was the sound of a stumble.   
Amber giggled. "Okay then." She replied.   
Zell stood beside her, already dressed in his new clothes. A pair of dark beige cargo pants, a t-shirt with a funky design in the middle of it, a silver chain around his neck, and sunnies. Obviously, he was desperate to keep from looking like a member of the Mardi Gras.   
"Okay, I'm done. Don't laugh." Said Selphie as the curtain opened. Selphie stood in front of them wearing a cute yellow peasant top and black hipster pants.   
"It's cute." Said Amber. "Slick and cute."   
Selphie's face lit up with a smile. "Yay! I'll just get changed back." She said and turned back to the change room.   
"Can I help you?" asked a guy, who just came over.   
"Oh yeah, can we buy these?" asked Amber, dragging Selphie back out before she could change.  
"Yeah, just come to the register. You planning to wear that now?" he asked, indicating Selphie.   
Amber looked at Selphie. Selphie looked back at Amber. "Can I?" she asked.   
"Yeah, just get your clothes and come to the counter." He said and began to lead them to the register.   
"This is so cool." Said Selphie as she, Amber and Zell made their way to the register.   
"Hmm…" said the guy and began typing in a few numbers. "That'll be $125."   
Amber quickly dug out 200 out of her pocket and handed it to the man. The man was oblivious to the fact that she carried a lot of money and handed her the change.  
"Have a nice day." He said and quickly ran to help another customer.   
"Okay, we have Rinoa to deal with next." Said Amber as they walked out of the store.   
"Wow. Cute." Said Rinoa as Selphie walked toward them.   
"Thanks." Said Selphie grinning. "Amber says she's doing you next."   
"Yep. Come on peoples. We're going to Tightrope." She said and led the way. Squall groaning silently as they walked.   
"Okay, hmm, two down, two to go." Amber stood back and looked at them thoughtfully as they approached the store. She grabbed Rinoa's hand and began to lead her into the store.   
"Don't miss your girlfriend too much, Squall." Amber called over her shoulder. "She'll be right back."   
"Wait, what are you going to make me wear?" asked Rinoa as Amber dragged her in between different clothes racks. "I still -"   
"Don't see the point." Amber finished for her, as she riffled through various clothes. "Yes, yes, I know you're desperate to get back, but we haven't found a way to GET you back, so bear with me until we can find a way. Okay?"   
Rinoa was mildly shocked. "Okay, fine." She said, finally.  
  
Squall sat on the bench, his head in his hands. "What's taking them so long?" he asked.   
"Hey, they haven't been in there that long. Chill man." Said Zell, leaning back into the seat.   
"Yeah, you shouldn't be too worried." Said Selphie. "Amber's not very psychotic."   
"I reckon she can be." Said Zell, smirking.   
Squall looked at him. "I guess you're right." He said.   
"Yay, Squall." Cheered Selphie. "Chill. You chilled before, you can do it again."   
"Yeah, and this is one of the only chances you'll get to diss your girlfriend." Laughed Zell.   
"Don't say that. It's not nice." Said Selphie. Squall shrugged.   
"I guess." He said. "But I'm not gonna tease my girlfriend."   
"Why not. You did it before." Said Zell.   
"You DID?" repeated Selphie in shock.   
"No, no." Squall said quickly. "I didn't. Zell's being paranoid."   
"But you -" Squall kicked Zell in the shins, which made him shut up.   
"Now be quiet. You're delirious." Said Squall.  
"I'm not…" Zell trailed off as Rinoa and Amber came back out of the store.   
Squall's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw his girlfriend.   
"She's street worthy now, Squall." Said Amber, in triumph.   
Rinoa stood there awkwardly, a little embarrassed with what she was wearing. Squall could see that she was wearing tight-ish dark blue hooded elbow top that showed off her figure, a beige cord skirt and on her feet were red high top sneakers. She held a black cotton jacket in her arms, which were folded over her boobs.  
"The streetwise look." Announced Amber. "The skater dudes'll dig her now." She said, smiling.   
"Gee, Rinoa, you look…" Squall struggled to find the right words.   
"Half naked." Finished Rinoa. "Least that's how I'm feeling."   
"No, you look great." Said Squall, quickly. "You look fine."   
Amber laughed, shaking her head. "I don't know how you guys mesh together, but you mesh."   
She cleared her throat and looked toward Squall interestingly. "Your turn." She said and led the group through the building. Squall couldn't help thinking the worst as they walked.   
  
"Argh, where's Amber?" cried Cassy, as she sat at a café with Seifer, Quistis and Irvine.   
"She'll be here." Assured Irvine as he sipped at his cup. "She knows we're meeting here right?"   
"Well, I guess." Cassy said slowly. "But then again." She looked toward Irvine. She had tried her best not to pick Irvine the crappiest outfits, and had managed to get him a simple Giordano long sleeved shirt, dark blue rolled up jeans, and Colarado sandals. His not worth much she thought. His outfit only cost me $57 Cassy bit her lip to keep from laughing and quickly looked back up the corridors of the building.   
"Ooh, there she is." Said Cassy and furiously waved her arm, trying to gain her friend's attention.   
Irvine cupped his hands over his mouth and shouted, "SELPHIE!! OVER HERE!!" Several people turned to look at him, but he just smiled charmingly at them and watched as Amber's group approached the tiny table.   
"Okay, what'd you do? What'd you buy?" asked Amber. She looked over Seifer and Quistis.   
"You look cool." She said simply.   
"Thank you." Replied Quistis.   
"You went shopping too?" Cassy asked as she observed her friend. Amber wore a red mini t-shirt with the word 'Phoenix' scripted across the chest and a black trench coat.   
"Yep. Been trying to get a bloody trench coat since April." Amber replied. Cassy smiled and nodded. She looked over to Squall and nodded approvingly.   
"Good work, Amber." said Cassy. Squall managed a small awkward smile. He was wearing a white button down blouse and black jeans. His hair was tousled and added to the hot look.   
"You look good, Squall." Said Cassy, casually. Squall smiled in thanks.   
"Pull up a chair." Said Irvine. The group nodded and grabbed chairs from empty tables and sat down. A waiter rushed over to them and began taking their orders.   
"So, where're we gonna go next?" asked Quistis.   
"Well, I was thinking we get back to my place." Began Cassy. "And sleep."   
"Sleep?" exclaimed Amber. "What are you thinking? We need to show them the sights!"   
"I agree with Cassy," Rinoa cut in. "I think we should get back and work out what we should do next."   
"No, no. I was only joking." Said Cassy. "We'll show them around. Take the monorail. Chill."   
"Love that word." Said Zell. "Chiiiill."   
The group laughed. 'Okay then Zell." Said Amber.   
"Amber!" called a voice.  
Amber whirled around to see who it was. "What do you want, Ashton?" she asked, coolly.  
"I want -" Ashton trailed off as his eyes trailed over the group. "Can I talk to you alone?"   
"What you can say in front of Amber, you can say in front of me." Said Cassy, standing up.  
"Okay, fine." Said Ashton, looking to the ground.   
"Amber… I was wondering," he screwed up his courage and looked at her.  
"What?" pressed Amber.   
"Can we get back together?" he looked at her, waiting for an answer.   



	6. Mucking Around Chinatown

Cassy snorted. "Loser."  
Amber turned around sharply to face her friend. "Cassy.." She warned.  
Cassy shrugged and lifted up her palms, "Okay okay." She said reluctantly she sat back down in her seat.  
Amber nodded and smiled thinly. She directed her attention back to Ashton.   
"Pardon?"  
"What was that about?" Seifer whispered to Cassy. "He does seem like a loser to me."  
Cassy shrugged again, "Apparently I intimidate him."  
Seifer smirked and looked back onto the scene. Desperate ex begging for 'another chance.'  
"Amber." Ashton said again. He cleared his throat. "I, reckon, that umm we should get back together maybe?"  
Now it was Amber's turn to snort. Cassy sent an approving gloat in her friend's direction. "You?" Amber pointed at Ashton like he was some bug.   
"Get back together, with me?" Amber fanned herself with her fingers. She took a slow sip of her cappuccino. "No."  
Ashton's face seemed to have fallen not just to the ground, but also past the crust, the mantle, and all the way into the inner core. His eyes started to water and his chin trembled dangerously. Amber could almost start laughing but she contained herself. She looked around their table and could say that at least her guests were enjoying the entertainment. She ignored the broke down Ashton, who was still trying to come to terms with his rejection, and took another sip of her coffee. Mmm, star bucks is really good, ahh, the Capitol Theatre's near by, it was worth the long trek from the QVB.  
Irvine was staring at the boy in pity. Inbetween flashing flirtacious looks at passing girls he got up from his seat and walked over the Ashton who was standing in a crumpled mess with his head bowed. Irvine placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Ashton's head jerked up, his eyes were glazing over.  
"Who're you?" Aston stammered.  
Irvine took a step back and took his right hand from out of his jeans pocket. "Irvine Kinneas, mastermind of the female mind, at your service."  
Ashon sniffled and pulled himself together, he said indignantly, "I don't need your help. Amber is swooning in her shoes, she does want to back back together with me, she's umm." He stopped and racked his brain for a suitable word, "Using reverse physchology." He seemed pleased with his answer, "Yeah, yeah that's right."  
There was a snort from behind Irvine, Zell shouted, "Yo dude, you were hammered!"  
Ashton gathered himself to his full height. He looked behind Irvine to see Amber facing away from him sitting at an outdoor table at Starbucks Café. Next to her sat her friend, Cassy, whom he wasn't really chummy with. She seemed to be grinning from ear to ear, sending smug looks in his direction. Next to Cassy, a well dressed blond man in cool Ck sunnies with his arm slung over Cassy's shoulder. Ashton looked around the table again. In fact, they were all pretty well dressed.  
"Who are you people?" Ashton directed his question to Squall.  
Squall eyed him, "I am Squall Leonhart, Commander of-" The rest of his words were stiffled. Cassy had rushed out of her seat and placed a hand over Squall's mouth. Squall splutttered and gently pryed her hand away.  
Cassy sent Ashton a bittersweet smile, "They're our friends, penpals in fact, from, umm. America."  
Ashton looked at her puzzled, "But they don't have American accents. Well except for maybe this one." He gestured to Irvine.  
"Shut up Dickface." Cassy said cheerfully and returned to her seat.  
Irvine focused his attention back on Ashton. "Man," He started, "That's not the way to get a girl back. Not that I would have any experience in that, you know, since they all like, come crawling back to me anyway."  
Ashton grimaced. "I have had enough of this." He declared, he pushed away Irvine and found the guts to march up to the table.  
At first he was a little intimidated by the older looking faces peering curiously at him, they're all strangely good looking. But he thought of Amber's loving smile and gentle touch and blurted out.  
"Amber. I love you. I want you back. Please come back. I'm sorry I cheated on you with that Yannery slut that was a mistake. Now I realize, I really never meant to."  
Amber's expression turned hard. She had gotten over that fact, she had really cared about him, they got together, were an item for a while, she thought it was love, but then, Cassy with a sad but furious face told her that she had seen Ashton and Yannery kissing after school. But the fact that he did that the same day he told her he loved her, hit hard. He had insulted her and he was going to pay.  
"Now you listen, mate." Cassy said, she was already fuming, she got out of her seat and approached Ashton, she was taller than him. "You stay away from Amber, okay? Remember what I told you last time.." Cassy felt a hand on hers, she turned around and saw her friend look at her pleadingly. Cassy nodded at sat back down.  
Amber got up, she looked at Ashton meaningfully, staring into his eyes. "You really mean that?"  
Ashton nodded, smiling, he took Amber's hands in his. "Yes, I really did, I mean do."  
Suddenly Ashton felt a hard slap sting his right cheek. Vision in his right eye blurred and there was a ringing sound in his ear. Faint cries and cheers were heard in the background from Cassy and Amber's 'American' friends. Ashton blinked a few times, Amber had sat back down, receiving slaps on the back.  
Ashton stared on, shocked. "What?" He cried, cradling his injured teeth.   
"Amber?"  
Amber looked at him, she asked sweetly, "Yes?"  
"What happened?" Ashton couldn't talk properly, his cheek still stung. "I thought we were OK again, then you (he-bitch man-slap) hit me?"  
Amber grinned, she felt terrible, but then again, nothing tasted sweeter than revenge. "Ok? What the fuck OK? We, Ashton sweetie, will NEVER be OK again. You cheated on me, and no one cheats on me and gets away with it un-harmed."  
Ashton stood there dumbly. "But, you came back to me, just then, you, you walked here. B-but, if you didn't want me back afterall, why did you pretend you did, come here then, slap me?" Ashton said all this in a barely audible whisper; clearly he was traumatized.  
Amber laughed shortly and turned to the group, "Hey I always wanted to do that!"  
Cassy started to crack up. "Man eater!" She mimed cracking a whip.  
Seifer started to snicker. Zell grinned broadly and even Squall was smiling.   
Irvine was still standing up and shaking his head, How embarassing, man, he got it wrong. If it were me, well, it wouldn't be me.  
The girls were giggling and high 5-ing Amber.  
"Way to go!" Selphie said, giggling.  
Ashton just stood there, I should be pissed off, but I'm not. If I walk away maybe I wont be, as embarassed, and maybe Yannery will take me back. I know she's ugly and no where as good as Amber, but, hey, any girl will do until Amber learns to love me again."  
He walked off to the nearest bus stop, they could just see him standing there amongst a group of people, he kept sneaking glances in their direction. Eventually a bus came, he got in it and left.  
  
Amber sighed, "thank god that's over with!"  
Quistis nodded smiling, "quite a drama there. what time is it?"  
Cassy looked at her watch, she frowned, "Hey , yeah! We better go, like, somewhere anywhere."  
Seifer smiled at her, "Alright, Cassy. Let's move it people."  
He got to his feet and pulled back Cassy's chair for her. Rinoa and Quistis exchanged glances.  
"Where to, Cass?" Amber asked, she fished out some notes for the waitress.   
"Keep the change."  
Cassy and Amber led the group onto the side of street.  
Zell stepped onto the road and took some steps forward. A car screeched to a sudden halt and angry insults were thrown at Zell from the driver.  
Amber ran quickly and pulled Zell back to the sidewalk. "Oh my god, Zell!! Are you crazy? Even back where you're from, you don't just cross the road like that!"  
Zell went as near as it could be to a blush, without calling it a blush.   
"Yeah, man, but I thought.."  
Amber rolled her eyes and shook her head, "I think I've had enough excuses being made to me today, come on, let's go, the traffic's stop and the little man is green."  
Seifer snickered. "That sounds weird, Amber."  
Amber looked at Seifer from the corner of her eye, "Yeah okay Mr-Knight."  
"What did you call me?" Seifer snapped.  
Zell laughed and said, "Hey, they know about that too!"  
Rinoa's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Exactly how much do you know about us?"  
They reached the other side of the street, Cassy nodded meekly in the direction of a hallway filled with shops. They were in Chinatown.  
"Hmm, enough." Amber supplied.  
Selphie was bouncing around in excitement. "Rinoa, hey? Stop worrying, why don't we enjoy this while it lasts?"  
Irvine nodded seriously, "It makes a change."  
Zell was browsing in and out of the stores, an electronic store, asian grocery, material store. Quistis accompanied while the rest of the group followed them around, in quiet conversation, soon enough Irvine and Selphie wandered away too. That left Amber, Cassy, Squall, Rinoa and Seifer.  
"Oohhhh." Amber exclaimed, her eyes pouring over a cardboard cut-out in front of a chinese video store. "Nicholas Tse…."  
Cassy started giggling, "Come on guys." She draped an arm around Seifer's shoulder, despite the fact he was much taller than her. "We'll leave Amber here. Amber? We'll be back in 15mins."  
Amber barely registered. "Huh, yeah, yeah…okay sure."  
Cassy shook her head good-humouredly and led the group away from Amber. They walked about two shops down and found themselves standing in front of a computer/anime store.  
"Ahh." Cassy said happily. "You guys can come in, but I don't think it's your scene, or just wait outside, I'll only be a sec."  
Cassy sauntered into the store, leaving Squall and Rinoa flirting with eachother, and Seifer standing around admiring his reflection.  
"Cool…FF10 action figures." Cassy then glanced around the store. "Eheheh, model planes?"  
She picked up the box before quickly putting it down again. The store owner eyes her warily.  
Cassy tapped her finger on the shelves, "Dragonball Z, Neo Genesis….ohhhhh."   
Cassy walked up to a poster hanging on the wall. "Final Fantasy VIII…."  
Cassy stood back to admire the picture, "Squall looks so good, I love this poster, they're all in it. Haha they look much better in real life though."  
Cassy did a double take. "Oh my god!" She shrieked, "They can't see the posters! They can't see the posters!"  
Cassy hurried to the door, she noticed Squall, Rinoa and Seifer huddled by the window display studying something on the wall. She caught snatches of their conversation.  
"Huh…Is that me?" -Squall.  
"There's something seriously wrong with all this, Amber and Cassy have some serious explaining to do." -Rinoa, ofcourse.  
"Hey, that's my face at a bad angle." -Seifer.  
"ARRGHHH!!" Cassy shrieked. The three jumped and turned to look at Cassy.   
"Oh my god, come here come here!"  
Seifer hurried over with Squall behind him and a reluctant Rinoa.  
"What's wrong?" Squall asked, frowning.  
"Hmmm…" Cassy started. "We're late! We were supposed to meet Amber 5 MINUTES AGO!"  
Cassy then ran towards the video store. When she saw that her company wasn't following her, she motioned for them to hurry over. They caught up and Rinoa fired questions at Cassy.  
"Did you see that poster in the store back there? Final Fantasy whasit?"  
"Uhhhh…the only things on the wall I saw were mirrors and pictures of sea animals."  
"Oh. Because there was this one picture where I thought the people on it looked very much like my friends and I and some other people we know, I suspect that you probably know them too."  
Squall nodded seriously "Cassy what is the meaning of this?"  
Cassy grinned stupidly. "Hey Amber, hey MAN!"  
Amber stepped out of the video store, a tall figure behind her. "Cassy?"  
"Yeah, man." Cassy started, she pulled Amber aside and whispered quickly explaining the situation.  
"Oh shit." Amber whispered. She touched her forehead and suddenly leapt as if she had an idea.  
She begun pacing around the area and suddenly jumped up.  
"Oh my god!" She shrieked. She started into the glass surface of a window nearby. "There's a picture of me on the wall!"  
Cassy nodded with understanding. "No, Amber. That's your reflection."  
Amber then smiled with mock realisation. "Ah, for a second there, I thought that was me, on like, a POSTER or something." She then looked meaningfully at Squall, Seifer and Rinoa. Rinoa glared at the girls then spotted Quistis with Zell behind her, reluctantly being dragged out of a store. Irvine and Selphie were slinking out of a clothing store, a security guard behind them.  
Irvine and Selphie looked sheepishly at each other when they reached the group.  
"What?" Amber and Cassy looked at each other.  
The security guard glanced at them before turning to Squall. "Are you with these two people?"  
Squall looked confused. "Perhaps I should introduce myself, I am Squall Leonhart, Commander of Gar-"  
Amber went again to him and clamped his mouth shut. "Hey, ahh, Sir. These two people are my friends. Have then gotten into trouble?"  
The security officer eyed the group, looking at their clothes. He glanced at Seifer who glared at him in return.  
"You're friends." The security guard nodded to Irvine and Selphie. "Were caught in the process of shoplifting."  



	7. Singing In The Rain/Dusk

Ooh, shit… thought Amber. Cassy stood there in shock. Ooh-kay, how am I gonna get them out of this too? she thought. As if reading her mind, Cassy watched as Amber jumped in.   
"Oh, um." Started Amber. "Selphie, Irvine, I've told you about this before." She said sternly. She walked up to them. "Just play along." She whispered. Amber turned back to the security guard.   
"I'm so sorry this happened, Officer." She said, trying to apologize. "It's just that um…"   
"They wanted our opinion before buying these things." Said Cassy, jumping in.   
"Yeah, they're always like that. They keep forgetting about the security stands and stuff." Added Amber. "Right guys?" she turned to Selphie and Irvine.   
"Oh yes, we're like that." They said nodding. "We're sorry, Officer."   
The security guard scrutinized them as if he was deciding whether or not to believe them.   
"Okay." he said, finally. "But if this happens again -"   
"It won't happen again." Interrupted Amber. "I promise you."   
"Very well. I'll have your word. Good day to you." And with that, the guard walked away.   
"WHAT WERE YOU GUYS THINKING?!" cried Cassy. The others jumped back in shock.   
"Well, we didn't know." Selphie began to explain. "And umm, we thought that, umm…"   
"We could… uhh…" Irvine wasn't any better.   
"Well, I hope it doesn't happen again." Said Amber. "Really, guys. You're in a foreign world. It's not good to walk around without us." She looked to Squall. "You could get hurt."   
Cassy noticed Amber's gaze at Squall and smiled to herself. Baaad Amber. Spank, spank She cleared her throat and looked toward the group.   
"Okay." she began. "NOW, I think we ought to get back." Amber nodded.   
"Reasons why." Began Amber. "One. We don't want you causing any trouble."   
"But we weren't -" started Zell, but Cassy cut him off.   
"Two. We don't want you getting lost in a foreign world."   
"Three. We don't want you getting hurt." Said Amber.   
"And four. It's getting dark." Finished Cassy, indicating the darkening skies around them.   
"Great, so we're going back to your place, right?" asked Rinoa.   
"Where else?" replied Cassy.   
"Come along people. Must go now. BUS!!" shrieked Amber, running toward the bus stop. Cassy watched as the bus bounded for her home rolled away.   
"DAMN." She cursed. Amber stood at the bus stop observing the timetable.   
"GOD, there's not gonna be another one until 6.15." she said. Amber looked at her watch. "We got an hour, people."   
"Great." Said Quistis, slumping into the old bench. Squall sighed and sat beside her, Rinoa sitting beside him.   
"So, what are we gonna do while we wait?" Seifer asked Cassy.   
"Dunno." She answered, looking at him. "What do you wanna do?"   
"EAT." Answered Zell. "I just realized. I'm sooooo hungry."   
"Idiot." Retorted Seifer.   
"WHAT'D YOU JUST CALL ME??" said Zell, standing up and pumping his fists.   
"Down boy." Said Amber. "Stay." She pushed Zell back into his seat and looked at him.   
"NOW you're causing trouble." She said. "Bad, BAD Zell." Amber shook a finger at him. Zell's face fell.   
"I don't think that was necessary." Said Cassy.   
"Yeah, I reckon." Added Irvine. Amber looked at the both of them and shrugged.   
"I'm hungry too." Said Selphie. Cassy sighed and looked up at the sky.   
"Great. We got hungry people." Said Cassy. "Amber?" she looked at her friend.   
"What? I have to get food?" she exclaimed.   
"If you could…?" pleaded Cassy. Amber sighed, giving in.   
"Okay." she said.   
"YES!! Thank you!" cried Cassy, hugging her friend.   
"Yes, yes. Now you owe me." Said Amber, as her friend withdrew from the hug.   
"Yes, I know." Said Cassy. Amber smiled.   
"Squall, come. We're going to get pizza." She took Squall's hand and quickly led him across the road. They continued down the side of the other street and turned a corner.   
"What, huh?" Squall barely had time to register what was happening.   
"Pizza." Amber answered simply. "I reckon we're gonna need about three to four large."   
"Large?" repeated Squall. It was obvious that he was completely lost.   
"You'll figure it out." She said as she continued to lead him through the streets.   
  
"What? Where'd Squall go?" Rinoa opened her eyes wide in surprise.   
"Amber took him." Said Cassy. "No need to worry."  
"You reckon she'll jump him?" Added Irvine.   
"IRRR-VINE!!" scowled Selphie, nudging him in the ribs.   
"WHAT? It's a thought."  
"Not a very nice one." Said Quistis.   
"Nice for me!" said Irvine, sitting back into the bench and letting his mind work.   
"You're crazy, Amber wouldn't do a thing like that." Said Cassy.   
"After all, she does, or she SHOULD know that Squall and I are…" began Rinoa.  
"Dating." Cassy finished for her.   
Rinoa looked at her inquisitively. "You have to tell me how you know all this as soon as we get back to your place." She said, sternly.   
"Yes, yes. I promise." Replied Cassy. "That's if I don't drop to sleep as soon as we get home." She said under her breath.   
"Where's Amber? Where's Squall? Neeeeed food." Groaned Zell, rubbing his stomach.   
"Stop." Said Selphie. "You're making me hungry."   
"Sorry." Apologized Zell. "But I'm still soooo hungry."   
Cassy rolled her eyes. She looked up at the sky and saw that it was getting very dark. She glanced at her watch. It was nearly 6 o' clock. Where was Amber?   
"Okay, Amber's taking a long time." Said Quistis.   
"Well, then." Said Cassy, stepping on top of the bus bench. "While we're waiting, I'll…"   
"You'll what, babe?" pressed Seifer as he looked up at her.   
"Stars! Moon!! Sun!!" she cried, throwing her hands in the air.   
Irvine opened his eyes wide in surprise. "Holy shit." he said.  
"What's so shitty?" asked Cassy, eyeing him.   
"Nothing." He said, quickly, choosing to avoid the possibility of getting hammered by Cassy.   
"Anyway…" continued Cassy, clearing her throat. Her face took on an expression that told everyone that she was deep in thought. After a few moments of silence, Cassy opened her mouth and bellowed out a song.   
"STRUMMING MY PAIN WITH HIS FINGERS… SINGING MY LIFE WITH HIS WORDS…" she sang. Every one of the FF crowd looked at her with utter shock and amusement on their faces. Seifer smiled and snickered into his hand.   
"KILLING ME SOFTLY WITH HIS SONG… KILLING ME SOFTLY…" Cassy sang.   
"Erm, Cassy, babe? What are you singing?" asked Seifer, curiously.   
"A sick song. I love it!" she replied.  
"What's it supposed to mean?" asked Rinoa.   
Cassy stopped singing. She looked at Rinoa and tilted her head as if trying to work out its meaning.   
"I DON'T know…" she said finally. She shrugged. "But it's cool song anyway." And with that she began singing again.   
"I HEARD HE SANG A GOOD SONG… I HEARD HE HAD A STYLE… AND SO I CAME TO SEE HIM… AND LISTEN FOR A WHILE…."   
  
Amber stopped, pizza in her hand as she heard a loud singing voice coming from somewhere.   
"What the hell is that?" asked Squall, bewildered. Amber looked at him and giggled.   
"What, what's so funny?" he asked, suspiciously. Amber continued to giggle as her mind was thinking about the story she and Cassy wrote about Squall getting drunk and singing.   
"Nothing. Nothing." She said, trying to stop her giggles.   
Squall looked at her warily, but didn't say anything. They rounded a corner and found themselves in a dark alleyway.   
"I think we took a wrong turn." Said Amber, looking around.   
"I thought you knew these streets." Said Squall. "Don't tell me we're lost."   
"No, we're not lost." Amber reassured him. "But lemme sit and think." She walked out of the alley and sat down at the corner. Squall sat down beside her.   
"Well?" he asked.   
"Shh, I'm thinking." She said. Amber put her head in her hands and pretended to be deep in thought. She was thankful that he couldn't read her thoughts. Kiss Squall. Kiss Squall commanded a voice in her head. KISS. SQUALL. KISS. SQUALL She glanced at him and saw that he was looking out to the street, patiently waiting for her to finish thinking. Good idea she thought. Kiss Squall Amber lifted her head back up and looked at Squall.   
"So, what -" but Squall didn't get to finish his sentence. Amber had leant over and pressed her lips to his. A voice in his head told him this was wrong because he was in a relationship with Rinoa, but another voice told him not to worry. What she doesn't know won't kill her Amber's lips lingered on his for a few moments before pulling away.   
"Okay, NOW I know where we're supposed to go now." She said, standing up as though nothing happened. "Come on." Amber led Squall down a few more streets and it wasn't long before they approached the group. Cassy was standing on the bus bench singing "Don't Call Me Baby" at the top of her lungs, the rest of the group looking at her in bewilderment and amusement.   
"Cool," said Amber. "Hold this." She said, dropping the three pizzas into Squall's arms. She rushed up to the bench and jumped on top of it. Everyone looked at her as she joined in with Cassy, singing at the top of her lungs. Squall had approached the group by now and was looking at the two girls standing and dancing on top of the bench.   
"Uh… what?" he said, in puzzlement.   
"Don't ask me." Said Quistis as she dug into the pizza.  
"DON'T CALL ME BABY, YOU GOT SOME NERVE AND BABY THAT'LL NEVER DO, YOU KNOW I DON'T BELONG TO YOU, IT'S TIME YOU KNEW I'M NOT YOU'RE BABY. I BELONG TO BE SO DON'T CALL ME BABY!!" Cassy and Amber had bellowed out the last line and were laughing as they began the next verse.   
"They are completely paranoid." Said Zell, his mouth full of pizza.  
"They're almost as bad as Selphie on her high days." Commented Seifer.  
"Thought she was high everyday." Said Irvine.   
"What was that Irvy?" asked Selphie, sweetly.   
"Nothing." He said quickly and shoving a slice into his mouth.   
"DON'T THINK I'M NOT STRONG. I'M THE ONE TO TAKE YOU ON, DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME, BOY, I'LL MAKE YOU SORRY YOU WERE BORN…" Amber glanced up toward the road and shouted.   
"BUS IS HERE!!" Amber took Cassy's hand and jumped off the bench.   
"Close the boxes and hold them. We're not allowed to eat on buses." Said Cassy. The bus came rolling toward them and Cassy, again, paid the fare. The group silently piled into the back of the bus, still in shock of the performance and sat down.   
"Okay!" Cassy called down to the bus driver and he closed the doors. Soon, they were traveling toward Cassy's house.   



	8. Explanations

"I reckon we should catch a train next time." Cassy said, staring out on her window.  
"What next time." Rinoa began. "No offence or anything, I'm sure your world is a lovely place and all, but I really do think we should be getting back to Balamb now!"  
Amber groaned. "Do you ever quit whinging?"  
"No." Selphie and Zell replied in unision.  
Rinoa glared and went into a sulk. She was ignored. She didn't like being ignored.  
"Guys!!" She shouted. "The whole bus turned and glared at her. She smiled   
apoligetically, "Uh. Sorry."  
She started again. "Guys." She said, whispering. "I'm not whinging! Why do you always say I'm whinging? I'm just worried, that's all. What if we are stuck here? What if we can't get back to Balamb. Get back to the Garden. We'll never see Cid again. Nor Edea, Xu or Nida, Watts and Zone and all these people. We wont get to smell the salty breeze of FH as we stroll around. We'll never--IRVINE WILL YOU STOP STARING AT MY BREASTS WHEN I'M TRYING TO TALK?!?!?"  
Irvine looked sheepish. "I...can't help it. They're just so...There!"  
Squall leans over and pats him on the shouler. "I hear you bud."  
"Amen to that, brother." Zell adds in, turning around in his seat.  
Seifer cocked an eyebrow, he let his eyes linger on Rinoa's chest area.   
"Hmmm…" He says.  
Rinoa glared. "Hmmm, Seifer? Hmmm??" She stares down at them herself. "And WHAT is so 'Hmmmm' about my boobs Seifer? I for one think that they are quite 'ohhh' and 'ahhh'." She put her hands on her hips. "So you can go shove your 'Hmm' up your arse."  
Seifer snickered. "They'd be alright if I didn't know that you stuff   
waterballoons into your bra every morning!"  
The group gasped. Squall looked the most horrified.  
Seifer made an 'o' with his mouth. "Oops." He said.  
Rinoa turned a really bright red. Embarrassment clearly shown on her face.   
"S-s-Seifer, you know that, t-that-"  
Cassy giggled, she took pity on Rinoa, "Sweetie," she began, "it's alright, some people aren't as lucky as others. We can go bra shopping tomorrow, I'll introduce you to the wonderful product of my world. Wonderbras. Push-ups, padding, liquid fills, half cups, plus sizes, whatever your heart's desires."  
Rinoa shrunk into her seat. She nodded, still a little pink.  
Amber supressed laughter, she looked around at the group and at the pizza boxes in their arms. "Hope you guys didn't eat too much, that's our dinner there."  
Zell looked down at the empty box in his hand. He looked around sheepishly hoping no one noticed. Seifer caught his guilty glance and began to get suspicious. He nudged Irvine and Irvine checked out Zell too. Pretty soon the whole group was looking at Zell, accusation in their glances.  
Zell turned almost as red as Rinoa did.  
"Zell…" Amber begun, "Did you finish that WHOLE pizza?"  
Zell shook his head quickly.  
"Zell…" Amber said again, "Would you mind opening that box for us?"  
Zell's eye grew wide, slowly his hand reached for the top of the box.   
Suddenly he pointed out the window. "Look, it's a decoy!!"  
The group looked outside the window that Zell pointed at. Except for Amber and Cassy.  
"What where? I can't see it." Irvine whined.  
"Neither can I, where is it Irvy?" Selphie whinged.  
Seifer who had immediately realized what Zell did started to sneer. "Look it's a DECOY."  
"Yeah?" Selphie said, turning back around and facing Seifer. "So what if I wanted to see the……ohhhhhhh……" Selphie turned red, almost as red as Zell did.  
Cassy and Amber started to crack up. "You guys," Amber began.  
"Are crazy." Cassy finished.  
Quistis started to laugh. "Well it got Zell out of that one."  
"It's our stop." Cassy announced.  
Squall rung the bell and stood up, motioning for everyone to follow him. He walked to the front of the bus by himself and waited for the bus to stop and the doors to open.  
"Huh?" Amber said.  
"He's use to being a leader." Supplied Rinoa.  
"So he's gotta do something leader-like." Quistis added.  
"He's hooked onto commander-ship like caffeine! " Selphie said, then giggled.  
"I wish you'd stop acting as if you're high on caffeine." Zell grumbled.  
"What was that?" Selphie asked, narrowing her eyes.  
The bus was pulling to a stop, the group began to move towards the doors.  
"I really like to eat nice juicy baked beans?" Zell offered.  
They piled off the bus and began walking to Cassy's house.  
Selphie put her hands on her hips, stared at Zell for a moment then piped up. "YEAH ME TOO!!!"  
She started to jump on the spot. "THEY'RE SO NICE!"  
Zell's eyes widened again and he looked a little scared. "Umm..uhhh…errrr…" he mumbled.  
"Selphie!" He let out suddenly.  
"What?!" Selphie asked, still jumping around.  
"It's another decoy!"  
Selphie stopped jumping, she bent her head forward and looked around, scanning the area seriously. "Huh, what, where is it this time. N'oh Zell, you can't trick me this time!"  
Zell persisted, "No Selphie, there it is, it's a Decoy!"  
Sure enough, there was an ostrich crossing Parramatta road, sporting a blanket on it's back. The word 'DECOY' written in pale slopy writing across the black background on the blanket.  
"Huh?" Selphie she scratched her head. She looked around her, she was the only one left standing on that side of the road, everyone else had already crossed and was beckoning her to come over. She scratched her head again before rushing to her friends, narrowly missing a car.  
The group resumed walking.  
"Guys." Selphie started. "I really did see the Decoy."  
Seifer snorted, Amber looked around in sympathy. "Honey, you're crazy."  
Zell gave a few shouts of laughter. "Caffeine bitch."  
"What was that?!" Selphie cried.  
"Candy stitch." Zell replied hastily, "you know, the pink stitching on the jeans sold at Just Jeans."  
Selphie narrowed her eyes again, she started at Zell for a moment. "YEAH I   
KNOW THEY'RE SO NICE."  
The group carried on in silence. They reached Cassy's house. She got her keys and opened the door, they all filed upstairs to her room.  
Everyone made themselves at home and lounged around on her bed or her floor.  
"I guess this is explanation time." Cassy said.  
"Too true." Rinoa replied.  
Quistis nodded her head. "Tell us one thing at a time. Slowly."  
Amber took a deep breath. She opened her mouth to speak.  
"Wait-" Zell said.  
"Yes. Zell?"  
"Do we get popcorn while hearing this?"  
Squall glared in Zell's direction.  
"Ok guess not, I'll shut up now." Zell hid his face in Cassy's pillow.  
"Start." Squall urged.  
Amber nodded. "Alright well, you know video games right?"  
Zell smiled broadly and nodded.  
"Well there's this video game called Final Fantasy."  
"Go on." Quistis said.  
Cassy took over. "Final Fantasy is just one of the many many video games made for the playstation, which is the gameconsole, it connects to a moniter screen and that's where you can play your video game."  
Amber continued. "Anyways, Final Fantasy is made by Squaresoft. They made several versions of it, Final Fantasy I, Final Fantasy II, Final Fantasy III, and so and so, Final Fantasy 9 is the latest one."  
"Well, that's swell and all, but what does any of that have to do with us?" Irvine asked, looking at Amber from under his hat.  
Cassy glared at him, "let her go on."  
Amber nodded at Cassy. "Final Fantasy 8 is the one we have in mind."  
"Why?" Selphie asked.  
Amber glared at Selphie, she quickly hushed and looked away.  
"Because, "Cassy said, "of this." Cassy got up, rumaged through her drawers and found a magazine. It was titled "Your Guide to Final Fantasy 8" On the cover there was a picture of the whole group in battle mode.  
She threw to Squall. Squall picked it up, looking at it weirdly, his eyes grew big, he was silent. He passed the magazine around the room.  
"What the hell?"  
"What is this?"  
"Is that us?"  
"Huh?"  
"I don't understand."  
"Hey that's a me at a bad angle!"  
The magazine landed back at Squall, he silently handed it back to Cassy. "Is this some kind of a joke?"  
Cassy regarded Squall solemly. "No."  
Squall looked around the room. His friend's expressions mirroring his own. Shock, surpize and disbelief.  
Amber coughed loudly. "So basically you guys are characters from Cassy and myself's, favorite video game."  
Rinoa got up. "This is crazy."  
Cassy pulled her back down, "Believe it, sister."  
All of them were lost for words.  
"That's why we know so much about you. We've both played the game, several times." Amber explained.  
"Final Fantasy is a pretty popular game." Cassy added.  
"Ohhh.." Squall said, "I thought I saw a poster in that computer store that had our pictures on it."  
Cassy nodded. "And how you got here, is a weird but simple story."  
Amber smiled. "We were playing with these action figures of you guys, and I guess sub-conscously, we really wished that you guys could actually be here with us, so.." Amber drifted off.  
"Your wish came true." Quistis said.  
Amber nodded.  



	9. Where Are Our Sleeping Quarters?!

"Okay, I'm suddenly experiencing major shock." Said Selphie after a long moment's silence. She sank into a nearby chair and looked dazed.   
"So…. What do you think?" asked Amber, looking toward the group. All she could see were confused and dazed faces on each of the FFVIII characters.   
"I think we're gonna need time to take this in." Quistis said quietly.   
Rinoa nodded mutely. Clearly, she was stunned by this news.   
"Okay, so what are we gonna do now?" asked Zell.   
"Well…" started Amber. "What do you want to do?"  
"I need to sleep." Said Irvine, quietly.   
Cassy looked at him strangely. "Sleep?"   
"Yeah, need to sleep on it." replied Irvine.   
"I'll go too." Piped Selphie. Irvine took her hand and led her away.   
"Okay, so we're a 'game', right?" asked Seifer.  
Cassy nodded. "So how does this game work?" asked Squall.   
"Well, it's kinda hard to explain." Said Amber.   
"Care to give us a demonstration?" asked Rinoa, finding her confidence again.   
"I don't know, don't you think it's a bit late?" replied Cassy.   
"I don't think it's late." Rinoa said, sternly. "Not really."   
"Well, it might be even more overwhelming for you than it already is." Said Amber.   
"Are you trying to stop me from seeing this 'game'?" asked Rinoa, scrutinizing at them.   
"Are you trying to force us to play this game?" Amber shot back.   
"Okay, that's enough." Said Quistis, interrupting.   
At that moment, Irvine and Selphie came back.   
"Uh… just wondering, where are our sleeping quarters?" Irvine asked.   
"Oh my god." Said Cassy. Squall looked confused. God? Strange… he thought. He was about to state the strangeness of this statement but decided against it. Everything's strange in this world, another strange thing won't make a difference   
"What?" asked Seifer.   
"Sleeping quarters. Umm…" Cassy looked deep in thought. Shit, I don't think my house has enough sleepworthy places so… She looked toward Amber. Amber looked at her friend strangely but caught on. The two girls rushed out of the room without another word, slamming the door behind them.   
"What? Huh?" Zell looked around in shock. "Where'd they go?"   
"Out." Said Rinoa. "Better follow them."   
"Why? This is their house." Protested Zell.   
"Yeah, Rinoa, we'd better stay here." Said Squall.   
"Fine, fine." Agreed Rinoa, sitting on the bed.   
  
"Sleeping?!" shrieked Amber, as they thundered down the stairs.   
"Shit, sleeping… where the hell are they gonna sleep?" asked Cassy, panicking.   
"Umm, umm…" Amber wrung her hands nervously. "Umm… when are your parents coming back?"   
"Two weeks." Replied Cassy.   
"Good, and your stupid brother?" Amber asked.   
"Summer school. Three weeks." Cassy replied.   
"So we got the house to ourselves, right?"   
Cassy nodded.   
"Good, time is good. Nothing to worry about yet. Just have to find -"   
"Sleeping quarters." Cassy finished.   
They reached the landing and Amber started to pace near the foot of the stairs.   
"Okay, let's see, beds." Muttered Amber. "I suppose we don't have enough beds. I guess Irvine could sleep outside with the dog…"   
Cassy laughed. "Good idea! But we should think seriously here."   
"Right." Said Amber. "How many beds you got?"   
"Umm, two people can fit in my parents room…" Cassy said, thoughtfully.   
"Yeah, then there's your bed." Said Amber. "I have the flimsy sleeping bag to keep me warm at night…"   
"And if that's not enough," said Cassy. "Then -"   
"I have Squall." Amber finished, with a twinkle in her eye.   
Cassy smiled at her friend. "Evil Amber." She said.   
Amber's face took on an expression of innocence. "Me? Evil? Never!"   
Cassy smiled again. "OKAY!"   
"Yes, okay, I know two people can fit in your brother's room." Said Amber, getting back to their situation. "We can chuck a sleeping bag in there."   
"Yeah, and there's a bed in the study/guestroom which should accommodate two people." Piped Cassy.  
"So that's like eight people," said Amber, thinking hard. "We still have one other person."   
"There's the sofa in the den," said Cassy. "Or the couch in the living room."   
"Hmm, cool. Now LINEN CLOSET." Said Amber leading the way up the stairs.   
"Linen closet?" repeated Cassy. "For what reason, may I ask?"   
"Must change sheets. Don't want clean FFVIII characters touching yucky brother's sheets, do we?" said Amber, opening the linen closet.   
"Right, I'll do Jeffrey's room. You do my parents." Said Cassy, heaving sheets into her brother's room. The two girls changed the sheets of each room in record time and met back in front of the linen closet.   
"Okay, sleeping bags." Said Amber.   
"Do you really think we need them?" asked Cassy.   
"Not really. Lemme think." Said Amber, sitting down in the hall.   
Cassy looked at her friend curiously. Hmm she thought, looking around her house. We'll shove Irvine and Selphie in the living room and den; Quistis can sleep with Rinoa in my parent's room. I suppose Zell and Seifer could sleep in the study/guest room, which leaves Squall…  
"I don't really think we need sleeping bags." Amber said at last.   
"Yeah, I'm thinking of putting Selphie and Irvine downstairs." Said Cassy.   
"Good idea, I don't think I could stand humping sounds if they were in say, Jeffrey's room." Said Amber.   
"Amber!" Cassy cried in shock. "Crazy person,"  
"Okay, that was going overboard." Said Amber, taking back what she just said. "But who knows what they're capable of?"   
"True. Ahem, yeah… as I was saying" continued Cassy. "Put Rinoa and Quistis in my parents' room."   
"Yes, good idea. Quistis can stand her." said Amber.   
"And Seifer and Zell in the study…"   
"That's not a good idea. They're capable of killing eachother." Said Amber.   



	10. Do I Exist?

"Oh yeah," said Cassy, coming to realization.   
"We could put Squall with Zell." Suggested Amber.   
"And drive Squall out of his mind?" asked Cassy.   
"Well, where do you want to put them?" asked Amber.   
"I don't know." Cassy answered. "I know that you were originally supposed to sleep in the guestroom, that's what my parents said."   
"Idea!" cried Amber. "I'll SHARE the bed with Squall." She said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.   
"What?!" cried Cassy. "I know what you're capable of, Amber dear."   
"I know." Said Amber, nodding, a mischievous smile on her face.   
"You'll molest him."   
"I WILL NOT!!" cried Amber. "EVIL Cassy."   
"Me? Noooo…" said Cassy.   
"Okay, okay. So say Squall does sleep with me. In the same bed." Amber said quickly, seeing the look on Cassy's face.   
"What do you reckon Rinoa would say?" asked Cassy.   
"She'd whine." Said Amber. "One of her best talents. WHINING."   
Cassy laughed. "Right, right. So I'm guessing putting Squall and Zell together would be the only solution."   
"So where am I going to sleep?" asked Amber.   
"Dunno, the dog house is comfy, KIDDING, KIDDING!!" Cassy said hastily seeing the murderous look on her friend's face.   
"Okay, my idea." Said Amber. "Put Squall in with me - be quiet and listen." Said Amber as Cassy opened her mouth to say something.   
"Put Squall in with me, Zell in your bro's room and Seifer in with you."   
"Noooo… noooo… Seifer in MY room?!" cried Cassy.   
"Okay, okay, we'll go with your first idea. Squall and Zell together, and Seifer in Jeffrey's room. Happy?"   
"Yes, okay. Wait! The sofa in the den opens out, I just remembered." Cried Cassy.   
"Good, dump Irvine and Selphie there and Zell in the living room couch."   
"Yes and you and me can sleep in the study/guestroom. Squall in Jeffrey's and Seifer in mine."   
"Nooo, Squall in Jeffrey's?" repeated Amber.   
"That's just as bad as Seifer in Jeffrey's." said Cassy, "I'm not sleeping in Jeffrey's"   
"Neither am I." Said Amber. They were silent.   
"Okay, this is stupid, think grown up about this." Said Amber after a while.   
"Yeah, okay, Seifer in Jeffrey's, Squall in mine and you and me in the study, okay?" said Cassy.   
"Good, let's go tell them." The two girls made their way to Cassy's room.  
  
"What the HELL is taking them so long?" asked Rinoa. "It's been an hour! What time is it?"   
"Umm…" Irvine looked around the small room for a clock. "10.01?"   
"Its dark outside, so -" Squall was interrupted by the door flying open.   
"You're back," said Rinoa, "Finally."   
"Yes, I know." Said Amber. She looked toward the rest of the group. "So we've decided."   
"Yes we have." Said Cassy.   
"Good, I'm sleepy," said Selphie, resting her head on Irvine's arm. He was too tall for her head to find his shoulder.   
"Okay, Quistis and Rinoa are gonna sleep in my parents' room." Said Cassy.   
"Is that okay?" asked Quistis. "I mean, your parents."   
"I don't think they'll mind. They won't be back for a few weeks." Explained Cassy.   
"Okay," nodded Quistis, seeming satified.   
"Yes, Selphie and Irvine will sleep in the den on the sofa." Continued Amber.   
"It pulls out, so it fits two people." Said Cassy, looking toward them. "No midnight love-making, okay?"   
"What?! We never do that!" cried Irvine.   
"Yes, and we don't intend to, right Irvy?" said Selphie.   
"Not yet anyway." Said Irvine.   
Cassy snickered. "Okay, that's settled then." She cleared her throat. "Seifer will sleep in my brother's room and Squall in mine."   
"Wait, where are you gonna sleep?" asked Squall.   
"There's a bed in the study/guestroom, accommodates two people." Explained Cassy.   
"And we know we can't put any of you guys together, because we know what you're capable of." Said Amber.  
"Thank you." Said Zell, glaring at Seifer. Seifer smirked at him.   
"You're lucky." He said to Zell.   
Cassy looked between the two of them. Right she thought.   
"Ahem and Zell will sleep on the couch in the living room downstairs." Said Amber.   
"Good, now that that's settled." Said Irvine. "We'll be going now." They headed out the door and down the stairs.   
"I'm tired." Said Quistis, stifling a yawn. "Where's your parents room? I think I'm gonna conk out any minute."   
"Down the hall to your right." Directed Cassy. "Last door you see."   
"Thank you." Said Quistis and made her way out.   
"Living room, Zell." Said Cassy. "Amber'll take you."   
"Come on Zell." Amber took Zell's hand and led him downstairs.   
"He gets an escort?" asked Seifer. "What about me, babe?" He looked toward Cassy.   
"Its just next door." Said Cassy. "But if you really want me to show you."   
"I do." Said Seifer. Cassy smiled at him and led him out of the room. Now Squall was alone.   
So now what? he thought to himself as he lay down on Cassy's bed. His eyes wandered around the room. Photos of her people littered the shelf in front of him. Squall sat up and leaned over to get a closer look. A pictured of the two girls, with their arms around eachother. Another picture of a two guys and another girl. A portrait of a guy. A superhero of some sort with his arm around Cassy. Strange thought Squall as he lay back down. He looked around the room some more. A large fabric picture of him hung on a shelf by the desk. Squall's eye grew wide as he got up to get a closer look. The features drawn were identical to his own. The words "Final Fantasy VIII" were strewn across in the background. The picture showed him holding a gunblade duplicate to his own. He suddenly found himself wondering deeply of exactly where he came from. Not from some orphanage in Centra. He felt he didn't really exist. Squall was confused and wanted to know more of this Final Fantasy VIII game that exist in this dimension. He lay back in the bed, deep in thought. At that moment, the door open and Amber stuck her head in.   
"Comfy?" she asked, smiling. Squall nodded smiling back.   
"Good, well, mind if I turn out the light?" she asked, her hand posed over the light switch.   
"No," replied Squall, shaking his head.   
"Good night then." Said Amber, switching off the light. The door shut and Squall was left in the dark thinking.   
She kissed me before he thought, remembering on the night's events. Why though?   
  
"Okay, this isn't good. I'm bored now." Said Cassy sitting up. The dim light of the lamp on the bedside shone eerily on her face.   
"I wanna play FFVIII." She said.   
"What? Are you crazy?" Amber shrieked, quietly. "Make them more paranoid then they already are?"   
"Yeah, I guess, so what do you think we should do tomorrow?" Amber asked.   
"I don't know." Answered Cassy, truthfully.   
"I know you promised Rinoa you'd take her bra shopping." Said Amber, giggling.   
"Bra shopping! Good idea! We'll take them bra shopping." Said Cassy.   
"Yeah, but I'd doubt Zell would agree." Said Amber.   
"Oh yeah, I guess we could drop them off at an arcade. Show 'em how to play." Suggested Cassy.  
"It would be a good idea if die-hard FFVIII fans weren't present." Said Amber. "Which they probably will be."   
"Damn, so what do we -" But Cassy was interrupted by the sound of the phone ringing, shrilly.  
"What the hell? Who would be calling at this time?!" cried Cassy, diving for the phone before it had a chance to wake anyone up.   
"Shit, wonder if they have phones in FFVIII dimension." Said Amber, getting out of bed. "I'll go check if anyone got freaked." She said, and made her way out.   
"Good idea." Said Cassy, as she answered the phone. "Hello?"   
"Hello?" said a familiar voice. "Umm… Cassy?"  
"Yeah? Who's this?" Cassy couldn't quite place the voice.   
"It's… um… its me… Josh."   
Cassy's eyes widened. She dropped the phone.   
  
  
ehehe... josh is someone... like that ashton dude... ehehe.. *nervous laughter* 


	11. Sleep Tight...

"Hello?" came a voice from the phone. Cassy shook her head coming back to her senses and scrambled to her knees, quickly retrieving the phone. "Josh?! I mean, Yea, Josh, wassup?"  
"Ahhh.." Came the reply, "Nothing really, and yourself? Whatcha doing?"  
Cassy sighed into the phone. "Not much, 'cept maybe trying to get some   
sleep. Why are you calling so late?"  
Josh laughed a laugh that was not quite a laugh, but one of those breath-out sorta laughs. "Nothing, just wanted to talk. Do you wanna get back to sleep?"  
"Nah, nah. So how are your holidays?" Cassy asked, she crept sleepily back towards her bed, holding the cordless phone in her right hand. She got in and snuggled under the covers.  
"Ah, they're alright. How about yours? Did you end up doing all those things you wanted to?" Came the reply.  
Cassy giggled. "Not quite, some un-expected guests -friends, dropped in."  
"What about your parents? I thought they were like, full strict about things like that.."  
"Nuh-uh, my parents are on holidays for like, two weeks, remember.."  
"Oh, that's right. I told you I had a bad memory."  
"You're crazy…anyways, remember my friend Amber? Yeah she's here too…I don't know what she's doing at the moment, she's crazy…"  
What the hell am I saying? I'm babbling almost like an idiot, goddamn Josh,   
I'm not sure if I even like him, I forgot about him, he was always hot-warm-cold anyways… Cassy thought to herself while Josh was asking about Cassy's un-expected guests.  
"So they just came to your house and invited themselves in? How many of them? Helloo?" Josh's voice was far away to Cassy who was still deep on her own thoughts.  
"Pardon? Yes, I mean no, hold on, what?" Cassy settled her head comfortably on her pillow. At that moment the door opened and the light from the hallway crept in. Amber stuck her through the open crack of the door.  
"Who is it?" She whispered.  
Cassy spoke into the phone. "Can you hold on please?" She turned her head to face Amber. "Joshua." She mouthed with her lips.  
Amber's face lightened up. "Really? Sweeeet, that must mean he likes you! Or something, calling at 11pm…"  
Cassy made frantic gestures for Amber to shut up. She spoke back into the phone. "Sorry that was Amber, she's being crazy."  
Again that breath-out laugh from Josh. "What was she saying?"  
"Oh, nothing. I don't even remember now." Cassy lied.  
"Ahh.." Josh sighed.  
"Umm, yeah…" Cassy began, Amber slid back into bed, clearly with the intents of hearing the conversation. "Amber! Go check up on.." Cassy stopped herself. "Go check up on Squall or something, maybe he needs, water." She said away from the phone and in a quieter tone. Amber nodded slyly and slowly edged out of the room, "I'll check up on the downstairs people."  
"Uh Josh?" Cassy snuggled into her blankets again.  
"Yep."  
"Sorry 'bout that. Uh yeah, oh yeah. There are about seven of my friends, and yeah, they kinda just turned up."  
"Seven? That's heaps. Who are they?"  
"Umm, just my friends, they're in Yr11 and 12."  
"Ah, what school do they go to?"  
Cassy narrowed her eyes, Shhhit, ummm, brainstorm, quick quick. Cassy banged the phone against the bedside table and threw it to the ground.  
In a small moment of realising the stupid thing she just did, Cassy started to laugh, but quickly stopped herself before picking up the phone again.  
"Hello?"  
"Yeah, what happened?"  
"Ah, I dropped the phone." Cassy started to laugh again.  
"Okay, it sounded as if you were hitting it against the wall or something."  
Cassy snorted. "Haha, yeah right. Anyways, I'm tired, I better…"  
"Hold on, um, what are you doing tomorrow?"  
Cassy licked her dry lips. Need lip balm. Or water. "Mmmm, taking my friends out I suppose. City."  
"Oh alright, 'cause I thought we could meet up or something. " Josh said.   
"I've got nothing to do tomorrow." He quickly added.  
Now Cassy did the breath-out laugh. "Umm, well if you're in the city tomorrow, you'll see me there. You got my mobile number right?"  
"Yeah, but I don't have a mobile, it broke."  
"That's right, no matter. Whatever. 'Kay, if you're in the city tomorrow with whoever, you'll probably see me there."  
"Alright then…See ya later."  
"Goodnight, see ya."  
"Yep, goodnight."  
Cassy quickly hung up. She placed the phone on her bedside table and hid her head in her pillow.  
"Still doing the rounds, huh?" Zell asked, grinning from his sofa in the living room. He was sprawled across a black leather couch with a big orange doona covering his body.  
Mmmm, he looks kinda cute like that. And his hair is crazily all spiked up either. Amber thought to herself. She bent over Zell's form and kissed his forehead.  
"Just saying goodnight." Amber whispered softly, by way of explanation.  
Zell took on a puzzled expression.  
Amber looked back at him seriously but then broke into laughter. "Cass wanted me outta the room, 'important' phone call. And I was just down here to see if you guys were freaked out by the phone ringing."  
Zell cocked an eyebrow. "Why would we?"  
Amber shrugged and took a seat on one of the reclining seats. "Do phones ring at Balamb?"  
Zell nodded slowly. "Yeah, sure. Why wouldn't they?"  
Amber raised her palms to him. "Well you guys have over grown Jurassic Park rejects lurking around in a room at your school, which you call the 'Training Centre', so who knows what your PHONES do!"  
Zell chuckled, "Things here are strange too y'know."  
Amber shrugged. "Irvine and Selphie ignored me completely when I checked up on them just a moment ago. It was dark so I have no idea what they were up to!"  
Zell snorted. "Well I'll let you know if I hear any sounds that go bump in the night!"  
Amber giggled. "Alright, goodnight Zell. Don't let the bedbugs bite."  
Amber proceeded to walk back upstairs to check on Rinoa and Quistis.  
"Bed bugs?" Zell thought to himself .  
  
"So what do you think of all this?" Rinoa asked Quistis.  
They were lying side by side on Cassy's parents's bed. The moonlight streamed in from the vertical blinds on the window.  
"It hasn't has time to sink in yet." Quistis replied tiredly. "But it sure is something I would have never expected."  
"Mmm hmm" Rinoa mumbled. "It's like them telling us we don't really exist, our lives, families, everything, they're nothing but a game."  
The door opened an inch and Amber peeped in, she nodded satisfied that Rinoa and Quistis were okay, she quietly closed the door and crept to Jeffrey's room to check up on Seifer.  
Quistis turned over, facing away from Rinoa. "I had no family, my earliest memories were of Squall, Selphie, Zell and everyone at the orphanage.."  
Rinoa sighed. "It's strange how you all grew up together, went your separate ways, but ended up reuniting at the end."  
Quistis yawned. "Yes, that's how things go. Look Rinoa, if you're thinking we're nothing but a game, you're wrong. Don't be silly, we do have our own lives and everything. It's not like we're just a bunch of smaller than average sized men wearing stupid red hats running across the screen either jumping, shooting or opening boxes."  
Rinoa yawned, her eye lids were getting heavy. "Yeah, damn Nintendo…."  
Quistis's eyes were shut and her words came out in hoarse whispers. "Go   
Playstation.."  
  
"Who was that who called?" Squall asked Cassy. He was lying on her bed, with his hands behind his head on her pillow.  
Cassy sat at the end of the bed, gazing out the open window. "A friend, I think. Well I know he's my friend, but, yeah." Cassy got up and reached for the window, "Do you want me to shut that?"  
Squall smiled, he shook his head. "No thanks. So what's this guy's name?"  
Cassy sat back and yawned. "Oh, no one. No matter, what do you want to do tomorrow?"  
Squall frowned. "I don't know. Whatever I guess…I…" He drifted off.  
"You wanna think of a way to get yourselves home, right?" Cassy finished for him.  
Squall nodded. "It's not as if I don't like your company, or appreciate the kindness you and Amber have shown us but.."  
Cassy laughed, she raised up a hand. "Stop Squall, you do speak so formal. We're practically old friends, Amber and I know so much about you."  
A frown creased Squall's brow. "Yes, that's what bothers me, I don't care really, but it's sorta eerie."  
Cassy shrugged. "We don't know how to get you guys back yet anyways."  
"That's fine, I wouldn't have wanted to leave so soon."  
"Good to hear." Cassy smiled. "God, I'm tired. I'll to bed now. Goodnight Squall."  
"Goodnight Cassy." Squall replied.  
Cassy left the room, she almost bumped into Amber.  
"Hey, is everybody okay?" Cassy asked, they were having a whispered conversation.  
"They're fine, Seifer's having some sort of a strange dream, he's fidgeting, you better check up on him." Amber replied, with a glint in her eye.  
"I thought you just did, though."  
"I didn't eat the last slice of the apple pie! Bob did!" Amber said.  
Cassy frowned, she rubbed at her ears. "What did you just say?"  
Amber shrugged and trudged off to the study room, she opened the door and disappeared. Cassy scratched her head and opened the door to her brother's room. She found Seifer sleeping peacefully, the soft breeze coming in and gentling stirring Seifer's hair. She quietly stepped up to the bed, she bent over Seifer's sleeping form.  
"Hey dude," Cassy whispered. "You can't hear me so it means I can talk to you and say whatever I want." She started to laugh. "Gosh, you look so cute when you're asleep, makes me wanna cuddle up beside you…"  
Cassy sighed. I feel attracted to Seifer, but…Josh? Well forget about Josh, I've got Seifer for the while.  
Seifer stirred in his sleep.  
"Ooops." Cassy giggled. "Don't wanna wake him up. I'll just say goodnight…"  
She leaned over and gave Seifer a little peck on his cheek. "Nightey Night."  
She left the room and closed the door quietly.  
Seifer opened one eye, grinning. "Sleep tight, babe."  



End file.
